Annual Review of Anthropology· 2012Q1· Review
Archaeometallurgy: The Study of Preindustrial Mining and Metallurgy
- 113citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2012year
Short summary
Archaeometallurgy, focusing on preindustrial mining and metallurgy, offers anthropologists insights into the materiality of metals, variable value systems, and the social construction of technology before capitalism.
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Key points
- Archaeometallurgy studies metal production and use from 8000 BCE to the present, focusing on preindustrial societies.
- The field emphasizes the materiality of metals and their variable value across different times and places.
- It offers criteria for distinguishing technological transfers from independent inventions.
- Archaeometallurgy explores the social construction of technology in precapitalist economies.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Archaeometallurgy is an interdisciplinary and international field of study that examines all aspects of the production, use, and consumption of metals from ∼8000 BCE to the present, although this review is restricted to mining and metallurgy in preindustrial societies. Most of this literature was not written with an anthropological readership in mind, but many of its central themes are relevant to some current debates in anthropology. Since the 1970s, archaeometallurgists have been concerned explicitly with the materiality of metals and also with the highly variable value of precious metals across time and space. Exacting criteria have been developed for distinguishing past technology transfers from independent inventions. Archaeometallurgists have also done important work on the social construction of technology in precapitalist economies. In short, archaeometallurgy offers much that is of interest to anthropologists who study the growth and spread of knowledge, and of systems of value, before the capitalist era.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Annual Review of Anthropology, 2012 · DOI ↗
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Field: Archeology (Social Sciences)
ArcheologySocial Sciences